


The Sufferings of the Steadfast

by revanchistsuperstar



Series: The Stardust Legacy [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, Light Angst, Original Character(s), Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 01:53:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revanchistsuperstar/pseuds/revanchistsuperstar
Summary: Theron and Ixaleii get to spend some extended time with each other on a mission off-world, causing Theron to confront feelings he’d tried his best to not let come to the surface. Short vignette sequel to "As the Stars May Yet Be Tamed."





	The Sufferings of the Steadfast

“You want a sip?”

Theron Shan snapped back to reality from the swirling cloud of thoughts he’d found himself lost in, and wiped a rivulet of sweat from his brow.  Ixaleii Stardust, Commander of the Alliance against Zakuul, sat across from him on the hot, sun-baked ground, a canteen of sorts in her outstretched hand. This was the end of their second week on Tatooine, and soon to be their last night. As the head of Ixaleii’s Alliance’s operations, it wasn’t often that Theron was able to get out in the field anymore, so he lived for the chances to be out actually  _doing_  things. They’d come to Tatooine on a recruitment drive. They hadn’t expected to become small town heroes. One of the settlements they’d happened upon was being run down by Sand People attacks, spurred by the Eternal Empire’s agitation of the indigenous people. The townsfolk had wanted Ixaleii to attack the Sand People head on, but Ixaleii had refused them, opting instead to drive Zakuul away from the settlement so the farmers and the Sand People might live together in relative peace. The party that awaited them upon the return from their triumphant fire-fight with the skytroopers was one unlike Theron had ever seen before: the people of the settlement were hailing them as heroes, spinning their folk legend right there on the spot. Ixaleii had found the celebration fun, but Theron found himself slightly overwhelmed. Midway through the festivities, he’d eagerly taken advantage of an opportunity to pull Ixaleii away, so he might enjoy a peaceful and altogether far too rare moment alone with her.

The twin suns of the desert planet were beginning to set across the ravine which they had escaped to, painting the sky a whole glorious range of colors, every shade of red, yellow, pink and purple imaginable. Theron allowed himself a moment to look Ixaleii over before giving her an answer to her question. It wasn’t often he was allowed to be so unabashed in his affection for her. As far as the majority of the Alliance was concerned, Theron and the Commander were no more than close friends, old war buddies from back before the Republic and the Empire had shared a common enemy. They knew nothing of the nights Theron spent on the Commander’s XS freighter instead of his bunk, and the arrangements he and Ixaleii had meticulously worked out with her husband in regards to their incredibly unique relationship. Apart from the closest of their friends, not a single soul in the Alliance knew anything about the secret love the couple shared.

The Ixaleii before him now was not the Commander her followers saw. This woman was much more real. She was drenched in sweat that made her short, mousey hair stick to her face, and she had stripped her jacket and tunic off in favor of simply her undershirt. Her face was flushed and dirty, making her beautiful green eyes seem all the more bright, and her breathing was still slightly labored from the intense exertion of the firefight they’d just endured. Theron smiled serenely, loving the laughter in her face, the way she reveled so much in the simple fact that she still drew breath and had a pulse. As he sat there beside her, shirtless, just as dirty and certainly a great deal more sweaty, he found himself simply in awe of how  _alive_ Ixaleii was. She didn’t seem like a woman who’d had the weight of the galaxy forced onto her shoulders, who lived each day under constant threat from an evil emperor who wanted her dead. Those thoughts never seemed to weigh on her mind like they did on Theron’s but he often found himself wondering how much of it was truly her personality, and how much was just a front.

“Hey, Theron, are you gonna give me an answer or are you just gonna stare at me?”

Theron blushed slightly, taking the canteen from her and allowing himself a sip of the liquid contained within. It was cold, frothy and slightly bitter, but refreshing in the heat.

“What is that?” Theron asked, regarding it with slight confusion.

“Ale of some sort. Our host makes it. He insists it’s from an old Tarisian recipe, I dunno about that, but at least it’s cold.”

Theron laughed.

“So what’s the end game here, get the spy drunk?”

“That wasn’t what I’d planned, but it might be fun to see you loosen up a bit.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’ve got an implant that metabolizes alcohol,” he said with a smirk. “It’s new. Not exactly convenient when you want to get shit-faced, but it has its uses.”

“Like what, Mr. Cyborg? Being the most un-fun person this side of the galaxy?” Ixaleii said in a teasing tone. Theron smiled, pulling her over by her waist.

“Staying sharp if I have to drink on the job in order to keep my cover, for one,” he said, as he hugged her close, stroking her stringy wet hair a bit. “I take what I do very seriously, Ix. I promised you.”

“I know you did Theron, I understand.”

Theron let go of her, picking up the canteen and taking another sip. He sat back, watching the suns, smiling to himself as he took in the beauty.

“You know, this might be a backwater planet on the hind end of nowhere, but I dunno, it kind of grows on you.”

Ixaleii nodded, and stood. She turned briefly to smile at Theron, and then she reached into her pocket. Unholstering one of her beloved blasters, she began to twirl it around her finger expertly. That made Theron grin, as he leaned back even further to admire her openly. That she knew how to handle a blaster so capably was what had attracted him to Ixaleii in the first place, all those years ago. Well, that and her green eyes and witty jokes. Languidly, she flipped a coin from her pocket up into the air, and shot it as it fell. Theron jumped slightly at the sound of the blast.

“Sorry,” she said, retrieving the coin. “That was kinda loud.”

“You could have given me a warning,” he said, rubbing at his ringing ear.

“What and ruin the surprise?” Ixaleii said, fishing around her pocket for something else.  Theron watched with interest. She’d pulled out a leather cord, and was now using the newly formed hole in the coin to thread it onto the cord, fashioning a pendant of sorts out of it. She then gestured for Theron to come closer, and he stood, walking over to her. When he had come close enough, Ixaleii stood on her toes so that she could place it around his neck. “There, now you have something to remember me by.”

“Oh wow, Ix,” he said, breathlessly. Theron looked it over, turning the coin over again and again, watching it gleam in the low light. The hole made by the blaster was perfectly centered. A one in a million shot. He looked up, grinning. “Thank you, I love it.”

“The correct response is ‘I don’t need anything to remember you by, I’ll never forget you.’ Didn’t anyone ever teach you about romance?” There was laughter in her green eyes as she spoke. She was teasing him again.

“No, as you very well know, and there better not be a mom joke next.”

Ixaleii kissed Theron then, pulling him in close, and Theron felt himself melt into her arms. She had that affect on him, the ability to render him completely and totally helpless, to make him completely at her mercy. And not only was she well aware of this fact, she took advantage of it. Theron could feel Ixaleii smiling against his mouth as she deepened her kisses, and then pulled away, leaving Theron feeling dazed and bereft.

“It’s getting dark. We should head back. What do you say we have sweaty, dirty sex back at the moisture farm?” she said, managing to make it sound like the most enticing prospect she’d ever presented him with. Theron couldn’t even muster up a coherent sentence in response, and ended up settling for a vague nod before Ixaleii laughed, pulling him along by his wrist.

Sweaty and dirty was exactly the type of sex they did in fact end up having, replete with hickeys and bite marks galore, and after she had rode him to climax, Theron found that he could scarcely think straight for minutes afterwards. Ixaleii lay on her stomach by his side, watching him intently, her arms folded beneath her chin.

“Theron, is everything okay?” she asked him quietly, in a tone of voice that made his stomach drop to his knees. Taking a few breaths to steady himself, Theron sat up.

“What makes you think it’s not?” he asked, having his own suspicions. He knew that’d he was becoming distant to her more and more often as their departure from Tatooine loomed closer. The next morning, they’d be returning to Odessen, and the Alliance. That meant a whole manner of things, but first and foremost for him, it meant going back to his job, and spending several nights out of the week sleeping alone on small bunk in a military base. And that was if he even got the chance to sleep at all. Theron wasn’t looking forward to that in the slightest. He was tired of hiding his relationship with Ixaleii, but he knew there were just so many circumstances that made being open absolutely impossible. Chief among those circumstances was the fact that Ixaleii was married to another man.

Though the initial shock of discovering that the woman he loved also loved someone else had been grave, upon hearing the circumstances and what Ixaleii had to say about the matter, Theron had become determined to make their situation work. She loved both of them, Theron loved her, and her husband Corso apparently had been okay with this arrangement since the word go, so the building blocks for stability were all there. It was just times like this Theron found it especially hard. Selfishly, there was still that part of him that wanted Ixaleii to himself. In his fantasies he was always able to sweep her away from everything, from the Alliance, the fight with Arcann, the war, all of it, marry her and live far away in blissful isolation. But in reality, he didn’t see that that could ever be possible. Ixaleii meant too much to the Alliance. Theron would probably never be able to marry her, either, despite neither of them technically being bound to the Galactic Republic and its laws any longer. There was just too much stigma against the sort of relationship they had. Humans were generally expected to have one partner at a time, and the backlash against those who didn’t was considerable. Ixaleii, being the figurehead of a large militant group, risked compromising everything she’d worked for if the public knew she was involved with both Theron and Corso. Only her very closest companions knew the truth, and they eagerly worked to keep that truth a secret. That strain was starting to wear Theron down, and he hated himself for it.

“You’ve been… I dunno, you’ve just been far away a lot recently. Lost in your head.” Theron couldn’t help but squirm at how perceptive she was.

“I’d hoped you hadn’t noticed,” he said, quiet.

“Come on, Theron, I always notice.”

Theron sighed, smiling sadly.

“I don’t want to go back,” he said starkly. Truthfully. Ixaleii seemed a little surprised at what he’d said.

“What, you want to stay on the desert planet?”

“Well maybe not on Tatooine, but… you know, Ix. Don’t you ever wish we could just disappear, leave our obligations behind and just run away together?” Ixaleii sat up and moved next to Theron, laying her head on his shoulder and letting him put his arms around her as they sat on the bed. Theron pulled the rough-spun sheets and hand knitted blankets of the bed they’d been provided around them both. As hot as Tatooine was during the day, all that heat evaporated quickly during the night time without vegetation to hold it to the earth, and Theron found he was already feeling cold. Ixaleii hadn’t responded yet, so he continued his thought. “Ix, I’m tired of being apart from you. These past few days we’ve been together almost constantly. I don’t want that to end. Corso is your husband. No one bats an eye if he misses you while you’re away or mentions you a lot, stands close to you during a briefing, touches you casually, watches you from across the room. I don’t have that. I have to be so guarded about my affections for you any time we’re back on Odessen, but when we’re out here together, just us? I feel free.”

He ran his finger over the exposed skin of her shoulder making Ix shiver slightly. She looked up at him with mournful eyes, and a sort of guilty demeanor that made Theron feel a bit sick to his stomach. He didn’t want her to blame herself for this, that was the last thing he wanted.

“I’m so sorry, Theron,” she said. “I don’t like making you feel this way.”

“It’s not your fault, don’t—”

“Maybe it’d be easier on us both if we came out of hiding? Just let everyone know, consequences be damned?”

Theron felt panic flood him.

“We can’t do that,” he said flatly.

“Why can’t we?”

“You’re the Commander! The Alliance  _worships_ you, Ix, and your leadership is one of our strongest advantages in this fight. I can’t let your jeopardize our chances against Arcann because of my personal feelings. They need to respect you.”

Ixaleii crossed her arms and jutted out her jaw petulantly, her brow furrowing. Theron could tell she didn’t take kindly to being told about something she couldn’t do, regardless of it being him telling her. And he couldn’t blame her. For years, she’d been forging new paths when people had gotten in her way; she’d flouted every no she’d ever heard. Hell, she’d defied  _Valkorion_  for fuck’s sake, the supreme immortal being of evil who’d bested Theron’s own ancestor Revan and built not one, but two massive empires. But this was something she couldn’t best.

“You really think they’d turn on me?” she asked, hurt.

“The ones who grew up in the Republic certainly would, the humans at the very least. I’m a spy. I hear things, and I  _know_  politics. Having two husbands is not a good move for a person in power.”

“You want to  _marry_ me?!”

Ixaleii had pulled away from him and was regarding him with incredulity. Theron blushed as deeply as he’d ever had in his life, and felt his stomach jolt uncomfortably. He’d not meant to let that particular fact slip yet. In fact, he wasn’t sure if he’d wanted her to know ever.

“It doesn’t matter what I want, you’re the Commander, you need to be the Commander,” he said weakly.

Ixaleii shook her head, still astonished.

“You really do put duty above everything, don’t you Theron.”

“I mean this is kind of important!”

“You’re important too! And you’re important to me!”

Those words were enough to silence Theron, and he looked away, unsure if he could face his lover at all. His face burned. But still, in his heart, he felt the fluttering of hope. He knew that she loved him, that was undeniable, but maybe possibly she didn’t see the prospect of two husbands as stupid? Maybe the fact that she hadn’t rejected the idea flat out was a good thing? Theron’s stomach churned. He just didn’t know what to think.

“I don’t want to fight you about this,” he said, still unable to look her in the eye. “I love you, Ix. You mean everything to me. But I don’t want our relationship to destroy the things you’ve worked so hard to achieve.”

“I know, Theron,” she said. He felt her hands on his shoulders. “I’m sorry, I should have realized… There isn’t exactly an instruction book for our situation.”

“Believe me, I’ve known that from the start,” he said, turning to face her, still blushing. Ixaleii smiled sadly, and reached out to touch first his face, and then the pendant she’d made for him, which was resting above his heart. Theron shivered a bit, but gazed into her eyes steadily. He would do almost anything to take the sadness out of that smile.

“We should get some rest,” she said gently, but there was a certain stiffness about her demeanor that made Theron’s heart sink.

“Yeah,” he said hollowly. “That’s probably for the best.”

Though he slept soundly through the night with Ixaleii in his arms, and she kissed him gently when they awoke, Theron couldn’t help but feel like there was a newfound wall between them now that Ixaleii knew… well pretty much everything. They didn’t talk much during the flight back, and she kissed him only very briefly before departing the ship without him, launching herself right back into her work as Commander. Theron, for perhaps the first time in his life, found he had no desire to return to the work of his own that needed attending, and he was very slow in making his way back to his office. He watched the people of the Alliance going about their tasks, barely a one of them paying him any mind apart from the occasional nod or salute, and he couldn’t help but wonder at each one of them: would they really care so much if they knew he was sleeping with their Commander? Would they lose respect for her, or was he just imagining it? Passing through the military hangar and then the war room on his way to his office meant Theron also had to go past Ixaleii’s headquarters. He couldn’t help but glance in the direction of the desk there, and wasn’t at all surprised to see his lover, datapad in hand, debriefing several of her advisors on their mission, joking with them easily. Corso Riggs stood close by her side, gazing upon her with blatant affection. Theron felt his stomach jolt. He snapped his head away, and began to walk a little faster. Work suddenly seemed more appealing.

Once in his office, Theron launched himself wholeheartedly into writing up his report on the events on Tatooine, trying his best to feel numb in concern to his emotions regarding Ixaleii. He found himself thinking of the cantina downstairs, damning the part of him that’d decided it was a good idea to put an alcohol processing implant inside his body, wondering how easy it would be to temporarily disable or maybe even short circuit somehow. It was very hard not to want a stiff drink when every sentence he wrote was about her… They’d been inseparable during the last two weeks: the job had called for it. And every memory he had to recall, whether he was including it in the report or keeping it to himself, brought yet another unwanted thought into his anxious and fast working brain. Maybe he was blowing this out of proportion, tormenting himself for no reason. It was well known that Ixaleii was not a career militant, she was a former smuggler and outlaw. People liked her because of it. She was a different kind of leader, but Theron was still wary of how much difference the members of the Alliance were willing to accept. He’d faced his fair share of pushback for being his own sort of different, he didn’t want the woman he loved to feel that same scorn.

Distressed, Theron slammed his datapad to his desk with a fair bit more force than he’d intended, and gave a frustrated yell as he began to rub his eyes in aggravation. This was pointless. He was torturing himself. He heard a gentle knock at his door, and without even pausing to look up, he shouted in annoyance.

“Whoever you are, now is not the time!”

“I can come back.”

The cheerful, drawling voice made Theron look up, and seeing the familiar mop of dreadlocks, he deflated a bit. Theron knew very well most people would probably assume that their loving the same woman would make him and Corso Riggs natural enemies, but in reality, the spy felt a sort of kinship with his lover’s husband. After all, it wasn’t like there were many people in the Alliance he was able to talk to about Ixaleii freely. Lana Beniko, as kind and calm as she was for a Sith, didn’t exactly make the most understanding listener, and as for Koth Vortena, Senya Tirall and the other Zakuulians who had come to their cause, Theron didn’t know them very well. And conversations with Lana’s astromech T7 always felt a little one sided.

“Corso, wait, I… didn’t realize it was you.”

Corso smiled, and entered the office, closing the door behind him.

“Captain told me you two had a hell of a time of Tatooine. Folk heroes! Gosh, it makes me wish I’d been there with y’all.” Theron smiled sadly at Corso’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, it was… It was certainly something,” he sighed, weary. “I’m sorry Corso, I’m just feeling out of it. I don’t mean to be such a kill joy.”

“The Captain said you’d probably be like this,” Corso shrugged. Theron couldn’t help but laugh a bit.

“Oh, so she sent you here?” he said, secretly pleased that she was at the very least concerned for him, even if she wasn’t coming to see him herself.

“Not exactly, but I wanted to talk to you before I headed off-planet,” Corso said. “I have a lead from an old friend on Ord Mantell about some supplies we need,” he added, seeing Theron’s confusion.

“You think it’s a reliable lead?”

“More than, and it’s a buddy I ain’t seen in a minute, so it will be good to catch up. I  _am_  a bit concerned about you though, Agent Shan.” Theron squirmed uncomfortably. “Captain wouldn’t tell me what it was that has you both like this. You’re not…? The two of you aren’t…?”

“We’re not breaking up or anything Corso,” Theron assured, and he could see the relief flood the merc visibly.

“You know, I never would have imagined myself saying this a few years ago, but I am relieved, Agent, I truly am.” Theron chuckled a bit at that.

“I guess I’m growing on you,” he said jokingly. He sighed, giving his forehead a good knead and his lower lip a good chew for a few seconds before continuing. “How much of a disaster do  _you_  think it would be if Ix and I went public? About the fact that we’re involved, I mean.”

“I can’t rightly say, could go a whole manner of ways,” Corso replied sagely. “I’m no Jedi, I can’t just ask the Force.”

“Yeah, well who needs the Force?” Theron said, unable to keep the derisive edge out of his voice. Corso laughed in response. “Corso, did Ix ever tell you about my parents?”

“I know who your mother is, but not much more than that,” the mercenary admitted. “And it’s pretty common knowledge you’re Satele Shan’s son.”

“I didn’t even know that much when I was a kid,” said Theron. “But I take it you’ve never heard who my father is?” Corso shook his head. “Jace Malcolm. Ix said you’ve met him.”

“The Colonel from Alderaan?” Corso replied, astonished. He let out a low whistle. “You don’t look anything like him.”

“The scars help a bit with that. And believe me, I was just as shocked. Anyways, I have a point I’m trying to make here. You may have noticed that my last name—”

“Your last name is Shan,” Corso finished for him. “Did he not know?” Theron shrugged.

“My mother purposefully didn’t tell him, but he figured it out pretty damn quick when we met. I liked the guy well enough the times that I’ve seen him, but he never publicly acknowledged me. Always kept me as a secret. I used to resent that a bit, but now I’m starting to wonder. How scared was he to not want to tell anyone? Because his secret couldn’t have been much easier to keep than mine, and Corso, let me tell you, keeping this secret is driving me insane. I’m terrified of what may happen, yeah. But the pain is starting to outweigh the fear.”

Corso gave his friend a sympathetic look.

“I think you may have it a bit harder than your dad did, Agent Shan, from what I can tell he’s barely been a part of your life.” It was Corso’s turn to sigh. “When it comes down to it, you don’t really have an easy path here. I don’t envy you, and I’m sorry I must seem like a real son of a nerf-herder saying that, because of how public it is the Captain is my wife and all. I’ve skirted around all the pain you’re going through.”

“……Didn’t your parents herd—?”

“They were rontos, it’s totally different,” Corso said dismissively. “That isn’t the point. The point, Agent Shan, is that you have it hard. You are in one hell of an unsatisfactory situation, and you don’t have a clear way to go, so there’s no use weighing the pros and cons and trying to do what’s noble. You’re the one who is gonna have to live with this Theron. Make the choice that you aren’t gonna regret ten years down the road.”

“Hmph, if any of us live that long,” Theron said. Corso smiled.

“We may yet, Agent. Keep that hope alive.”

Theron chewed his lip all the more fervently as Corso left his office, now even more unsure of his previous conviction to keep his relationship hidden. Because Corso was right: regret was something he hadn’t considered. If he kept this secret, as good as Theron was at keeping secrets, it was going to wear down on him. It was going to breed resentment. And resentment would end up leading to things that Theron would probably end up regretting for the rest of his life. He reached for the coin around his neck, and like he’d done when Ixaleii first gave it to him, Theron began to turn it over and over in his hands, admiring the way it caught the light. The fact that she’d given it to him at all was… well frankly, an honor. Little trophies like this? Theron knew enough about his lover to know that it was her number one way of expressing an affection beyond words, apart from her kisses. He replaced the pendant beneath his shirt, jaw setting. A new sort of determination was coming over Theron, and he felt his heart beginning to speed up as his stomach churned with nerves. This was a big leap, and it was going to mean a lot of stress. But his mind was made up. He gave one last mournful look to his datapad. He’d have to finish his work later, right now he was in no fit state to do anything besides what his heart was demanding him to do.

He practically ran to the Commander’s headquarters located in the lower level of the base, stopping only when he reached the threshold of the door. Ixaleii was there, speaking with Lana, standing over a large map of the galaxy.

“I believe the reprieve we’ve been experiencing from Arcann’s onslaught is no coincidence, Commander. Especially with SCORPIO in control of the Eternal Throne. He’s biding his time. Personally, I don’t really want to know for what, so if we—“

Theron cleared his throat, causing both of their heads to snap around to look at him. Had he been a meeker man, Lana Beniko’s red eyed glare would have reduced him to tears, but Theron Shan had stared down his fair share of Sith in his time.

“Commander, I need to speak with you,” he said, trying to stress the urgency. “Alone.”

Ixaleii raised her eyebrow, but nodded immediately.

“We’ll have to talk about this later, Lana, I’m very sorry.”

“Not at all Commander,” Lana said primly. “Theron and I have worked together long enough for me to know he wouldn’t interrupt us for anything trivial.”

Theron continued worry his lower lip with his teeth as he watched Lana leave, his heart now racing. He pressed the button to close the door behind her, and turned to Ixaleii, who was still regarding him dubiously.

“This is obviously serious considering you’re about ready to chew your lip off,” she said bluntly. “You only do that when you’re incredibly upset.”

“I’m sorry,” Theron began. “I just… I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if I didn’t say something now, and I was barely able to get any work done just now I was so distracted, and… Has that bed always been here?”

“Theron,” she said warningly, but then she shook her head sighing. “Yes, it has, I just never use it. I prefer the one on my ship, it’s much more private. Now what’s up? Seriously Theron, I hate seeing you like this. Is this about last night?”

Theron ran his hand through his hair a few times, and down his face.

“Yeah, this is about last night,” he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He paused, unsure of where exactly to go from there. After several moments of silence, Theron decided that bluntness was probably going to be the easiest path. “Ix, I love you. And I’ve decided I don’t care who knows it.”

Ixaleii stared at him.

“Who are you and what did you do to Theron Shan?” she asked, her tone almost serious enough to make Theron feel the need to prove his identity. “I thought you’d always be too afraid…”

“I can’t lose you.”

“Theron, you’re not going to—”

“It already was driving us apart, Ix. I might not have the Force, but I’m not blind to emotions. I’ve been more and more distant, and since last night, you’ve been guilty. I  _can’t_  lose you, I don’t care if I have to fight the entire Eternal Empire alone because of this, we’re not hiding any more. Ixaleii, I love you so much…”

“You want to marry me,” she said, sounding almost dazed. “I almost didn’t believe it last night, but you’re really serious.”

“Yes, I want to marry you,” Theron said. He strode over to Ixaleii, and gripped her shoulders tightly, looking her dead in the eye. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” There was something in Ixaleii eyes then that made Theron’s stomach drop. He began to stammer. “I-if you don’t, I won’t mention it again. Or if you need to ask Corso. I’m sorry, Ix, I know I’m not doing this properly.”

“Oh maker above Theron, what the hell about our lives and relationship has been even remotely proper?” she said. “I’m a non-monogamous smuggler turned military commander, you’re an illegitimate love child and failed Jedi turned secret agent, we’re both Republic ex-pats on the personal hit list of a crazy Force-wielding emperor, I spent five years of our relationship as a popsicle and you spent six not realizing I had a husband. We haven’t been doing this right for years. Hell, if we’d stuck to the roles we were born to play, I’d be working my fingers to the bone in some arms factory on Corellia. I’d probably be dead all things considered.”

“I don’t…” Theron began, confused, but Ixaleii wasn’t finished.

“I’ll marry you, Theron. I will be your wife. I’m surprised because I thought you’d never ask.” She looked away, almost as if she was ashamed. “You’re so rigid sometimes. So damn…  _dutiful._  I love you for it, but… but…”

“It means I don’t take chances when I should, I know,” Theron said, rubbing Ixaleii’s shoulders. “You make me a better man than I ever could have hoped to be without you.”

“I love you Theron,” she said gently. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you too Ix,” he replied. “I hope I can keep that up.”

“As my husband.”

“As your husband.”

She kissed him fiercely, pulling him down by his shirt, and causing the pendant she’d made him to fall from behind his collar and swing between them. Theron smiled. First a family, now a wife. It was good to finally feel so loved.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to “As the Stars May Yet Be Tamed” 
> 
> However this isn’t a true “sequel” in the strictest sense.
> 
> This is something I wrote ages ago, intended to be a prelude to the fic I entitled “The Spy and the Scorpion,” which originally was supposed to be true sequel to “As the Stars May Yet Be Tamed”. I unfortunately ended up scrapping it because I wrote the plot into a corner and couldn’t figure out how to resolve it. I’m re-imagined it later as something shorter.
> 
> So instead, this is a one shot, I guess. Because I liked this too much to scrap it completely. It acts as sort of a bridge, a vignette that occurs between the two longer stories I’ve created here that explains some of what’s happened in the down time between the end of the first fic and the start of the next one. The re-imagining of the Spy and the Scorpion (which I renamed "The Stars That Gaze Back") is now a similar sort of vignette.


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